Disinfectant was a popular

antivirus software Antivirus software (abbreviated to AV software), also known as anti-malware, is a computer program used to prevent, detect, and remove malware. Antivirus software was originally developed to detect and remove computer viruses, hence the name ...

program for the

classic Mac OS Mac OS (originally System Software; retronym: Classic Mac OS) is the series of operating systems developed for the Mac (computer), Macintosh family of personal computers by Apple Computer, Inc. from 1984 to 2001, starting with System 1 and end ...

. It was originally released as

freeware Freeware is software, often proprietary, that is distributed at no monetary cost to the end user. There is no agreed-upon set of rights, license, or EULA that defines ''freeware'' unambiguously; every publisher defines its own rules for the free ...

by John Norstad in the spring of 1989. Disinfectant featured a system extension that would detect virus infections and an application with which users could scan for and remove viruses. New versions of Disinfectant were subsequently released to detect additional viruses. Bob LeVitus praised and recommended Disinfectant in 1992. In May 1998, Norstad retired Disinfectant, citing the new danger posed by macro viruses, which Disinfectant did not detect, and the inability of a single individual to maintain a program that caught all of them.

References

Antivirus software Macintosh-only software 1989 software {{malware-stub